Donald Gene Miller, born in Lansing, Michigan on December 28, 1954, was a criminal justice student at Michigan State University and a youth minister at his church. Between January 1977 and August 1978 he attacked six people in and around East Lansing and killed four of them: his former fiancée Martha Sue Young, whom he killed on January 1, 1977 days after she broke off their engagement, Marita Choquette, Wendy Bush, 21, a Michigan State student, and Kristine Guske Stuart, 30.
Two days after the last killing he knocked at a house in Lansing, found 14-year-old Lisa Gilbert alone and attacked her. Her 13-year-old brother Randy walked in, distracted him long enough for his sister to escape, and was choked unconscious and stabbed. Both survived, and a witness took the registration of Miller's car. He was arrested hours later, on August 16, 1978.
He was convicted at trial for the attack on the Gilbert children and sentenced to 30-to-50 years. The bodies of his four victims had not been found, and he pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter rather than murder in exchange for leading investigators to them, receiving 10-to-15 years. That plea is the reason a man who killed four people was convicted of no murder at all.
As his release approached he was found in possession of a garrotte and other items made in prison, and in 1998 was sentenced to a further 20-to-40 years. He is held at the Central Michigan Correctional Facility with a projected release date in March 2031.